crich area community news
Double Top - Mortimer Wilson School
Just a few short years ago, we were looking for a secondary school for our eldest child, not a problem of course because these days you have a ‘choice’ look round all your local schools and prioritise your choices and the job is done. Wait for your acceptance letter…but for us that was not what happened. We were turned down, good school + oversubscribed + out of catchment = rejection. We had been turned down. Well it happens of course but these days you just appeal – then you get your place. So we appealed, and waited again and were. ……rejected.
We did not know what to do, neither we or our son felt particularly comfortable with the lack of uniform at Gell’s and despite the fact that all his friends were going there, he asked to look round at ‘Mortimer Wilson’. …..but what about its bad reputation! Well precisely – What about its bad reputation?.. we like all others locally were aware it had a bad reputation but did anybody know what was wrong with it?……….after asking several people nobody had come up with a good reason why this school had a bad reputation.
So appointments were made and off we went. Not knowing quite what to expect.
Our son went off and had a couple of full days introduction and we set about chatting to the leadership team. The Head at the time talked about the reputation and how it can take a relatively minor thing to inflict a reputation but can take years of effort to restore the situation to normal. He talked about Alfreton being at the heart of the poorest area of Derbyshire and having the highest percentage of single parent and low-income families in Derbyshire. He also talked about the difficulties in reading government league tables how people compare local schools where intake ability levels are vastly different. All made perfect sense. His closing comments to us were…. ‘We have a fabulous group of children here, a real mixture of characters and talents but we need more parents of higher ability children to trust us, we do everything we can for every child to help them attain their highest level possible, our results are not high because our intake is considerably disadvantaged, but we do add considerable value - we do our best by them and many come back to visit year upon year. Trust us we will do the best for your son.’
That was back in 2001. We made the decision to trust the Head and his team and boy are we pleased we did. He has just moved into the sixth form where he is doing A’ levels. He achieved 8 A*s, 2As and a B. He took three of them a year early and is very, very happy at school. The work experience placement he gained in year 10 has taken him on every holiday since and he thoroughly enjoys work, he could have left school and been working now but he wanted to go back to school. Our daughter followed him to ‘Morts’ she too is proving very successful there and has just begun a totally different set of options to our son. Her SATS levels were superb gaining two sevens and an eight. (Still 1996-CACN-2008 40 waiting for the fourth). As parents we could not be happier with the choice we made.
Part way through all this excitement, there became a vacancy for a Parent Governor – I’ve always been interested in Education but my life’s experiences were with much younger children. However with the support of the Head I went for it and became a Governor. A frightening prospect at times but I soon became hooked and started getting more involved and more confident. Shortly afterwards the Head retired and a new Head has arrived, with new visions and priorities. Since her arrival we have all been very busy, the school is now an aspiring Arts college, results are improving and we are having a new school under the Building Schools for the Future programme. I have acquired a few more jobs – as ‘Chair of the Premises Committee’, ‘Attendance Governor’ and for the last thirteen months I have been Vice Chair of the Governing Body. I am extremely grateful to Mortimer Wilson School, not just for the excellent education it has given my children, but for the confidence and opportunities it has afforded to me too and to the fabulously committed staff who I consider as colleagues and friends. Morts still has its weak points as does any school, it may not be right for everyone, but that too can be said of any school but we are working flat out to improve further and I can honestly say if I had my time again that I would make Morts my top priority.
If you have any questions you would like to ask me about Mortimer Wilson School feel free to email me at v.rogers@mortimerwilson.derbyshire.sch.uk or telephone me on 07776 392657.
Valerie Rogers
Whatstandwell